The Longest Night
by jenthetrulysly
Summary: A Christmas crime hits Five-O close to home.


_**The Longest Night**_

By Nickovetch

_AN – Finally, after a lot of digging through my fanfic folder, I've found this story! If you prefer to read this story in a non FFnet setting, it may also be found on GM's wonderful fanfiction site Solosojourn. _

"You sure that's enough, bruddah?" The man asked his companion as he stared at the body on the ground. It was dark in the alley and he wasn't able to see the steady rise and fall of the fallen man's chest. "We're in big pilikia if we don't finish him off – what if he's seen us?"

The man next to him glared at his recalcitrant companion before he sighed in exasperation. Aneko might have had the biggest fists on the islands but his brain was another matter. "We're not here to finish him off, he's gotta be presentable to the big boss." Using the tip of his shoe, he nudged the man on the ground over on his side to prevent him choking on his own blood. The movement caused him to cough and in the dull moonlight overhead the puddle on the ground shone dull crimson.

"But Kahike…" Aneko started, but he was stopped when Kahike took a step back and kicked the sandy haired man on the ground once hard in the torso to stop his coughing fit. There was a large cracking thump before it desisted immediately and he went limp.

"Happy now?" Kahike asked his large Hawaiian companion. Running a hand through his dishevelled black hair, he glared at Aneko. "If he dies-"

"We die," Aneko finished as he bent down to make sure that the blood was draining out onto the ground from the Second-In-Command's mouth instead of back down his throat. From his position he could see the unnatural bend of the man's arms as well as the dark imprint of rapidly forming bruises on the exposed skin of his arms. The Hawaiian had no doubt that more than a few of his ribs would have been broken as well. Shoving a hand against his mouth and nose, Aneko was relieved to feel the warmth – albeit weak – exhale of air. "He's still breathing," he announced as he stood up. "But that's all he's going to do."

"Good," Kahike murmured. "Now let's get the hell out of here."

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**

Christmas was a day to be spent with family - McGarrett had given the other detectives the day off to spend with their families and loved ones. It was a day of much welcomed respite from the rigour of his daily routine, providing some much needed down time.

The dark haired man was about to ignore the call but the possibility that it was a call from HPD led the detective to go and answer the phone. Without a second thought he snatched up the handset. "McGarrett," he greeted in his usual brisk tone. Glancing at the clock hanging above the doorway, he idly noted that it was 8.23pm.

"Steve," Chin replied. The lead detective could tell there was something wrong from the note of anxiousness in the other man's voice. He knew that it had to be serious to warrant a call at this hour but before he could enquire the Oriental detective rushed on. "Come to Queen's Hospital. We have a situation – Danny's been found beaten to an inch of his life…it looks bad."

Feeling his knees go weak at the news, the lead detective sagged against the kitchen counter and the handset slipped a few inches lower in his hands. He felt his fingers go numb as he swallowed thickly. At the Chinese detective's gentle prompting, he snapped back to reality. "Okay, I will be there as soon as I can."

Without waiting for Chin's reply, he slammed the handset back onto its cradle and grabbed his keys from the cabinet next to the door before hurrying out of his apartment without a second thought as his heart did its best to match the furious pace of his footsteps as he literally ran for the elevator. As it descended towards the apartment complex's car spaces he drummed his fingers impatiently along the handrail and tried to mentally prepare himself for what he was about to see at the hospital.

By the time he had started the Mercury's engine McGarrett had managed to tamper down the hysteria that had begun to well up inside as his apprehension flooded past the levies. Through the years he had been some truly horrible injuries befall his Second-In-Command but the one absolute truth that he believed with complete conviction was that Danno was going to be alright. His detective had been shot, stabbed and beaten to within an inch of his life before and he had always managed to pull through. Shifting the car into gear after he released the hand brake, the tires squealed as he peeled out of the apartment complex. He switched on his police siren as the blue police light shone in the darkness of the Hawaiian evening.

His knuckles slowly turned white as his grip on the steering wheel tightened. Pressing the accelerator fully, the detective weaved in between the light traffic on the streets of Honolulu as he sped towards the hospital. Switching the police radio on, the sense of unease grew the more reports he listened to. Having had enough, Steve switched the radio off and focused on the road ahead of him and getting to the hospital before it was too late.

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**

Chin stood outside the operating room as his anxious colleague Kono placed a hand onto the glass, staring with horror at the flurry of activity from beyond the viewing window. A team of doctors and nurses were crowded around a small, narrow hospital bed and even though there was no sound Kono could as well as heard the frantic shouts and the beeping of the monitors as they worked on their patient, trying to save his life. It was a small grace that the crowd of white uniformed medical personnel blocked the bed such that a direct view of Danny was not possible. Neither Chin nor Kono had been present when someone had found Danny and called the police but from the reports given by the first officers at the scene as well as the EMTs Danny's condition was very serious. Kono averted his gaze as a nurse turned around and he saw that the front of her uniform was splattered with blood – Danny's blood. His stomach violently lurched and he looked to the side to find Chin staring at him, his face slowly losing its color. Swallowing the bile rising up his throat, he looked down to the barrel-chested detective's hands and found they were shaking. In slow motion Kono found himself raising a hand and laying on his companion's shoulder. "Bruddah, leave dis ta me. Go back ta your family…it's Christmas Night. You got a zoo waitin' for you at home."

The Chinese man shook his head and the smile that crossed his worn face was more strained than anything. "No, bruddah. We gotta be here for Danny."

"Knew dat won't work." Kono admitted with a grin of his own.

"At least til Steve comes." Chin added, before turning his attention and thoughts back to the injured young man beyond the glass window.

The two detectives already had made plans to take swift action. This was no longer just strictly a case – it was personal. As soon as Steve arrived at the hospital Chin and Kono would take their leave and head out to the alleyway to help Che turn over every rock looking for any clue that might help them help Danny. They didn't have to wait long before the doors to the waiting room were slammed wide open on their hinges with a loud bang that caused the two men to jump. They looked over their shoulder to see McGarrett stride into the room, ablaze with concern and worry about the welfare of his Second-In-Command.

"What have we got, Chin?" Steve asked as he paused in front of the Oriental detective. Scrutinizing the man with his impenetrable gaze, he searched for something. Seemingly unsatisfied, he huffed a breath and turned his steely cobalt gaze to the viewing window as he continued softly. "Any news on Danno's condition?"

Chin shook his head. From the tense lines of McGarrett's shoulders it was clear that the longer the dark haired detective stared at the sight beyond the glass window the more he was struggling to rein in the emotions that threatened to overwhelm him. Chin knew that the two men shared a bond that was thicker than blood, deeper than the ties of conventional friendship – they were brothers, in every sense of the word and for one brother to see the other like this was heartbreaking. Sympathy for his boss flooded him but he refrained from expressing any of it. The best thing he could do now for Steve was present a strong façade and do whatever he could to find out more about what happened to Danny. McGarrett had never been one for sympathy and Chin was not going to waste his efforts where they weren't needed – or appreciated.

He kept his voice carefully even with the next few words. "They brought him in from an alley over on Hotel Street. No word from any doctor so far on Danny's condition."

"Dey've been at it for over an hour," Kono added sadly, taking a step closer to the lead detective. "Da kaikaina looks real bad."

What his detectives just told him came as no surprise to McGarrett. He nodded numbly, at a complete loss for words when the doctors and nurse stepped away from their patient. The first thing he noticed as a nurse turned around and headed over to the window to grab some sort of medical apparatus from the table under there was how the front of her uniform was pink. A closer study revealed that the pink was actually caused by multiple small splatters of blood. He swallowed thickly at the streak of blood across her left cheek. He directed his gaze to the space between the two doctors on either side of the bed and felt his chest constrict with emotion at the sight of the young man lying limply on the bed. Dan was barely recognizable with the heavy swelling to his face and the dark mottling of bruises on his skin – if it weren't for the dirt splattered sandy curls on his head McGarrett might not have been sure that he _was _even looking at Danny.

Horror wormed its way though his chest when he realized that he had never seen Danny in this condition before. Sure, his Second-In-Command had been injured many times during the course of his work but usually by now the doctors would have been able to resuscitate him. The doubt slowly festered the longer he stood there, until he wasn't even sure if Danny would be able to pull through this one. He had skirted death countless times before but Steve did not deluge himself – Danny was only human and every person had a breaking point. He just prayed that Dan had not reached his yet.

Recognizing that such thoughts were useless and maudlin, the lead detective began to pace the worn linoleum, snapping his fingers in time with his steps. He let a small portion of his thoughts remain with his closest friend as he tried to make sense of the situation. On the ride over to the hospital the wires of the radio had burned red hot with status reports as to the sandy haired detective's condition. It had taken most of his sense of self-control to avoid smashing a hand through the device to silence it forever the further he coasted along the road. The details had been sketchy but he had been able to glean that Danny had been found in an alleyway beaten to death and that HPD would be arriving there to gather evidence and cordon off the area. There was not much that three fully-fledged detectives could do waiting around for any news of Danny.

Making his decision, he looked up and then fixed his gaze on Kono, and then Chin. "And why are you still here? You've got leads to chase, witnesses to interview," the further he went on a sense of irritation settled over McGarrett, so much so he found himself feeling restless. "Waiting around here isn't going to make Danny wake up any earlier!"

The Chinese and Hawaiian detectives recognized that their boss' ire was not directed at them but the fact that they were all in limbo regarding Danny's condition. McGarrett hated not knowing and this was the worst type of uncertainty there was. They had been a part of Five-O long enough to know that the topic of Danny often prompted over the top responses from Steve. Immediately Kono thought of the way Steve had recently charged up the hill after Danny had taken down Bill Shem over at Diamond Head as Chin turned his thoughts to the way the dark haired detective had risked his life, shoving Kealoha aside as he attempted to storm the corridor where Dan was being held hostage by that crazy Marine all those years ago. With identical nods the two detectives rushed out the door, determined to search every nook and cranny of the dingy alleyway off Hotel Street for any clue that could help bring the perpetrators to justice.

Left alone in the foreboding, almost overwhelming silence of the waiting room, the lead detective paused his pacing to look at the sight inside the emergency room. He watched the peaceful expression on Danny's face and sighed as he placed a hand against the cool glass, closing his eyes as he tried to swallow the lump that had arisen in his throat. He would have welcomed the blank darkness from the lack of sight but the images of Danny prostrate on that narrow bed with all that blood soaked through his garments was burned into his memory. He opened his eyes again and looked hard at his Second-In-Command. Even though this wall of glass separated them he hoped and prayed that Dan would be able to hear his words. "Don't you give up on me, Danno," he murmured softly as he gazed at his closest friend. "You are going to pull through. I know you will."

McGarrett didn't know how long he stood there, leaning against the glass with his arm raised and his forehead resting gently against his hand, staring at Dan while he whispered soft prayers for Danny to be alright and to overcome this ordeal. He didn't notice a gentle hand on his shoulder before it firmly turned him around and he came face to face with Dr Bergman. A Styrofoam cup of coffee was pushed into his hands before he was guided over to the row of hard-backed plastic chairs on the other side of the room. Sitting down, he felt his heart race at the sight of the physician's grim expression as he studied the detective.

"Drink," Bergman ordered in a firm, yet soft tone. "You look like you could use that."

Nodding in thanks, the lead detective sipped the coffee he had been given. It was like drinking warm water but he didn't care – he could've been drinking lukewarm nothing for all he cared. His thoughts were focused on only one thing. "How is Danny?"

The Medical Examiner sighed before he ripped his white cotton cap off and threaded a hand through his grey hair. That was perhaps the simplest question Steve could have asked but he found the answer evaded him – the truth was they simply didn't know. Danny's condition when they brought him off the stretcher was critical and he had never seen Danny so close to death. His pulse was non-existent and the broken ribs had managed to puncture his left lung, compromising his respirations. This made CPR difficult and they had strapped an oxygen mask around his face to help him breathe and had done a tracheal intubation but they were still concerned at how Danny could stop breathing at any moment – he had crashed three times so far on the gurney. Furthermore the stab wound on his abdomen had managed to nick the top of his liver.

Their main priority so far had been to stabilize his breathing and treat the stab wound - until they could do so any more tests and x-rays would have to wait. The young detective had lost so much blood and given the severity of his condition they couldn't rule out of there were any further internal injuries. The deep, dark bruises pronounced on Dan's torso strongly suggested there was.

Taking a deep breath as he tried to explain Danny's condition to Steve, he settled for a gentle approach. "Steve," he said, as he laid a hand gently on the detective's slightly shaking one. "I remember Danny has an aunt, right? Now is the time to call her." The gashes and slashes had been sewn up, Danny had been given broad spectrum antibiotics to treat any infection that might develop – all they could do was give the young man continuous blood transfusions and keep him in Emergency as they prayed for the best.

"Wait," McGarrett shot back as he yanked his hand out of the physician's reach and glared at the man opposite him as confused numbness settled over him. Why would Bergman be telling him to call Clara? Unless…

Disbelieving horror must have shown on his face as the crusty physician's expression softened and pity shone out of those brown eyes. "What aren't you saying, Doc?" McGarrett asked, hating himself for how weak his voice sounded at the moment. His control over the entire situation was slipping like sand through his fingers. This was not how things were supposed to be.

"I'm sorry, Steve." Bergman offered. There was a moment's pause which seemed to go on for an interminably long period of time. "There is nothing more we can do for Danny at this time."

Gripping the armrest of the chair to steady himself, the news that Bergman had just delivered left him winded. His first reaction was a knee-jerk denial but when he thought about it rationally Steve knew that the physician only informed him of the need to call Aunt Clara where it was really warranted. This was the first time in all of Dan's years with Five-O had Doc told him of the need. Danny must have been in deeper trouble than Steve had initially thought. His mouth went dry and a sense of numbness overtook him when he realized that tomorrow might be a new day, a new day without Danny.

Even though the concept had never been far from his mind to be so close to it was a different thing – it was much scarier. Their work was inherently dangerous and the rational part of his mind was aware that the concept of dying on the job was possible but he believed that preparation would be able to minimize the chances of that happening. Now that he thought about it, each day that he had taken for granted could have been their last. It was a sobering thought and hit him like iced water, chilling McGarrett right down to his very soul.

After several deep-calming breaths as he reigned in most of his ire and despair Steve turned his steely gaze onto the doctor sitting opposite. Maybe if he took this one step at a time he would come to a better understanding of what exactly they were facing. "Okay, from the top. What are we dealing with?"

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Bergman felt a small smile tug at the corners of his mouth. Trust McGarrett to never give up when it came to his Second-In-Command. In others, the sentiment would have been endearing. Feeling the intense mood in the room lift a little, the doctor let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding. "Danny has a deep knife wound in his abdomen that we have managed to repair. We think it has nicked his liver but that is the least of our worries." He paused to give the detective some time to digest this information. "He has a punctured lung from broken ribs and the trauma has caused his body to go into shock. He's bled out 2 units of his blood and his condition is critical at the moment. We have him on antibiotics to prevent infection and continuous blood transfusions. As soon as the OR is free we will operate to repair the tear to his liver and punctured lung."

Steve nodded slowly as he processed this information. The radio reports had indicated that it had been a suspected mugging so he had some idea of what to expect but hearing it laid out like this was different. "What are his chances?"

Bergman had just opened his mouth to respond when his name was called out over the hospital loudspeaker and that there was a code blue in progress in the emergency room. Quickly standing up the doctor glanced back at McGarrett. "Please notify Danny's next of kin, Steve," he said before he rushed back into the room. The dark haired detective trailed over to the window where he could see a small cart with paddles being wheeled over beside the gurney.

Steve watched in horror as Bergman loaded up a syringe with a clear liquid before pushing the sleeve of Dan's hospital gown up and inserting the needle into a vein on his arm, depressing the plunger fully as the physician waved the cart away. He observed the monitors for a few moments before shaking his head. He shouted a series of orders and two nurses scrambled out of the room before the monitors were pulled off Danny's chest and the entire set up was being pushed away from the wall. Heading over to the doorway, the doors to the examination room burst open and Dan's gurney was pushed out into the hallway, obviously towards the operating room.

Just as his footsteps fell in stride with the gurney and McGarrett managed to catch sight of Dan's limp form lying there unnervingly still, a hand came out across his chest and pushed him away. "Now is not the time, Steve! He needs to go into surgery right away!" Bergman roared as he increased his steps to match the furious pace as they trundled down the hallway.

Letting his steps slow down, Steve could only watch as the procession of medical personnel moved further away from him, before disappearing into the operating room at the end of the hall as the red 'Surgery' light switched on above the doorway. The last thing the dark haired detective saw was the tuft of curly, sandy-colored hair through the small viewing window before the silence became absolute. He realized that there was nothing left to but wait. Heading back to the waiting room, Steve moved to sit down on one of the hard backed plastic chairs and wait on what was perhaps to be the longest Christmas night of his life.

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**

"His blood pressure is dropping–"

"Doctor, the patient is bleeding into his liver, we need to pull out!"

"We need to repair the tear first, he will keep bleeding if we don't close it."

"But he's had an adverse reaction to the anaesthesia-"

"He's crashing!"

The heart monitors in the cramped operating went off as the patient flat-lined. "Acute onset of bradycardia. Push 0.01cc of adrenaline now!" Bergman announced before he tightened his grip on the scalpel. He was almost done repairing the tear – then it would all be up to the young man whether he woke up or not.

However, the physician had been in enough of these situations to make accurate predictions about the outcome. Things were not looking very good for the young detective. He exhaled noisily into his facemask as a gloved hand appeared to dab at the sweat collecting on his forehead.

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**

From the open window of the waiting room Steve could hear the faint sounds of Christmas carols filter in as people made merry and celebrated the festive season. He had always hated Christmas because it was a time to spend with family and short of Mary Anne he had no other living relatives. Through the years he had managed to come to terms with spending Christmas alone because it was just another example of how the earth orbited the sun and there was nothing much he could do to change that. Thankfully his job with Five-O kept him on his toes and too busy to really give time to such morose thoughts. Now, in the gloom of the empty waiting room those dangerous thoughts festered dangerously close to the surface and hearing the carols through the window was not helping things.

He hated waiting, hated not knowing the outcome and being placed in a situation in which he had no control over. It went against the grain of everything he believed. Glancing up at the clock that hung above the doorway he noted that it was 11.59pm. McGarrett also ironically noted that this Christmas just happened to be the worst one is a long time for him. Moving to stand up, the detective vacillated over to the open window, before pushing it open a little further as the balmy evening air settled over him, comforting his nerves. The stench of antiseptic and sickness wasn't as strong now and the warmth of the Hawaiian evening was welcome. It made him feel like he was out on his lanai, his retreat from the world for some quiet introspection. As he scanned the evening skyline he allowed the familiar sight of swaying palm trees and the stars as they glittered against the darkness of the night to calm him, taking a deep breath of the salty spicy air. This act let him feel a little better, like he was regaining a modicum of control over the situation.

The hospital speaker announced that there was a call for him at the nurse's station. Turning around, he sighed before rushing out to the nearest nurse's station just around the corner. The pretty Hawaiian nurse smiled as she handed him the phone. "McGarrett," he parked in his standard authoritative tone.

"Steve, Kono here." His Hawaiian detective greeted. "We got some more information on Danny's assault. Seems like we hit da pay dirt as the stoolie pigeons were restless in the eaves tonight."

"Good, Kono, good." Steve replied as he leaned against the counter. "What's the word on the coconut wireless?"

"Dat dere was a contract out on the kaikaina for 1000 dollars for da hood dat could rough him up a little, but not kill him," the Hawaiian man replied. "People were gunning for Danny as soon as da contract was put out."

"Do we know who put out the contract?" Steve rushed out, his grip on the handset tightening almost painfully. Whoever did this to Danno was going to pay – he was going to unleash the full might of the law on them.

"We had ta quit rustlin' da pidgeons as dey were gettin' restless. Seems that's all dey were willin' ta tell us. Someone's payin' a higher price for deir silence, bruddah. Che's managed to lift a good set of prints from da alleyway – as soon as he's got a positive ID he's gonna call you at da hospital."

"Good." Steve replied.

There was a very pregnant pause before Kono asked. "So any news on da kaikaina's condition?"

McGarrett was at a loss for words. How could he convey everything that Bergman had told him about the seriousness of the situation? Kono was Dan's good friend and he owed it to the Hawaiian detective to let him know just how bad Danny's condition was. Swallowing thickly, he hated the way his voiced dropped and how weak he sounded. "Doc asked me to call Dan's aunt, Kono," he whispered meaningfully.

There was a halting hesitance to Kono's next words and for the second time that night Steve's chest became painfully tight. "Have you…have you called her yet?"

Steve shook his head, but realizing that Kono would not be able to see him, he replied in a quiet voice. "No, I'd rather wait until I hear a more definitive update on Danno's condition. Keep stirring the pigeons and I want that alley sealed up tight. No one goes in and no one goes out."

"Right," Kono answered before he disconnected the call. Handing the handset back to the nurse, McGarrett slowly made his way back to the waiting room, before settling down again on the hard backed plastic chair as he fixed his eyes on the wall opposite and tried to ignore the loud _tick tick tick_ of the clock that hung overhead.

After what seemed like an interminably long time, a pair of footsteps echoed in the hallway and the tired, slumped figure of Bergman emerged in the doorway. Standing up, the lead detective rushed over to greet him and stepped aside to let the physician collapse into the nearest chair before he ripped his cotton cap off and pulled his facemask down, rubbing his hand across his face. He turned his gaze onto the anxious detective waiting in front of him. "Your boy has one hell of a fighting spirit, Steve." The medical examiner was taken aback but how suddenly and abruptly Steve's face lit up with relief and an emotion that Bergman could not quantify. "However," he added. "Danny is not out of the woods yet. He's still got a long way to go before he gets there."

Feeling buoyed, Steve tried to quash the delight he felt at Bergman's words. Yet, he could not deny that the news came as welcome relief. There was a chance that things were going to be all right and he seized onto that fact like a lifeline. "What are his chances?"

The physician sighed. He didn't want to crush that sense of optimism but he still wanted to ensure that Steve's hopes weren't raised too high. There was a fifty-fifty chance that Danny could go either way. "Fifty-fifty. But they're going to get better if Dan can get through the night without any further incidents."

"How's he looking, Doc?" McGarrett pressed on, his gaze flicked unflinchingly on the man in front of him. "Is Danno going to make it?"

"If Danny can make it through the night," Bergman repeated. "Then his chances of a full recovery are good. Better than fifty-fifty."

"Mahalo," Steve said as he grabbed Bergman's hands between his. The relief was palpable to the older man and it was infectious – slowly he felt a smile tug his lips upwards. "Can I see him now?"

"See – yes. Talk – no," the physician countered. "He hasn't woken up yet after surgery but if everything goes well he should. We have just finished moving him into the ICU." Moving to stand up, he approached the door and turned back, waiting for McGarrett to follow him. Almost pre-emptively, Bergman raised a hand. "No, he is in the ICU and I can only allow you in there for a few minutes. He needs his rest, Steve, and so do you."

Shaking his head at Bergman's tenacity, the lead detective followed the doctor out of the waiting room and down another corridor before they stopped in front of a wooden door. "Five minutes, only." the physician reminded, before he opened the door and stepped aside.

McGarrett entered the room and was shocked at the sight that greeted him. There were tubes and wires sticking out from almost every patch of exposed skin and hidden under the fold of fabric. Dan was covered in bandages and swelling had disfigured his face – his left eye was black and swollen shut. The steady beeping of the heart monitor as the green line danced across the screen was comforting. Slowly the dark haired detective approached the solitary figure on the bed before he paused to stand in front of his Second-In-Command. Laying a hand gently on the injured man's shoulder, he gently squeezed it, horrified to find that the skin underneath the thin cotton was cold.

He went over to the small closet where Danny's clothes – or where his clothes would have been kept if they weren't down at the labs - to retrieve a spare blanket for Danny. Carefully spreading it out, Steve made sure to avoid snagging any of the material on the wires and monitors surrounding the younger man as he covered Dan with the blanket before resuming his position by the injured detective's side. Standing there as he looked on his closest friend with something remarkably like fondness, the sight of Dan's chest steadily rising and falling provided more comfort than he could explain. The mere fact of being in the same room as his friend and witnessing his friend win the struggle for life one breath at a time was encouraging and helped to calm the anxiety that had remained with him for the course of the evening.

This tableau lasted until the door opened and a nurse entered the room. "Mr McGarrett, its time for you to leave now."

Breaking his gaze away from the young man, he whispered. "I'll be back tomorrow, Danno. Doc can't keep me out of here forever."

With a final supportive squeeze, McGarrett turned around and followed the nurse out of the room.

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**

Groaning, he opened his eyes and gradually became aware of a light shining in them as well as the steady beeping of some machines. A low murmur of voices could be heard but he couldn't distinguish the words - his head felt like someone had stuffed cotton wool inside it. The longer he was awake the stronger the dull throb of pain running through his body became, so much so until it felt like he was going to come apart at the seams due to the excruciating agony that each breath caused. The small effort left him feeling winded and he found himself sinking back into the blessed silence of darkness.

**x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x**

The next time he awoke he was feeling much better. Disorientation still struck hard and he panicked when he realized he had no idea where he was. Opening his eyes he was greeted with the sight of a familiar ceiling. He had been in this building countless times over the years and had come to prefer ending up at Queen's over above the other hospitals – for one thing their standard issue gowns were not so scratchy.

The sounds of shifting fabric alerted him to the presence of another person in the room and he slowly tilted his head to the side to see Steve sitting in the lone chair next to the bed. A grin spread across the seated man's features as he reached out to lay a gentle hand on Dan's shoulder. "Hey, Danno. How're you feeling?"

"Hey Steve," Danny croaked, before attempting to push himself a little higher up the bed. He watched as McGarrett poured some water into a Styrofoam cup before raising it to the recuperating man's lips, supporting the back of his head as the lead detective tipped the cup to allow a small trickle of the nourishing water to slide past Dan's parched lips. The water was like heaven on his parched tongue. Once the cup was empty Steve placed it on the bedside table and resumed his place in the chair, an intense expression on his face.

"Did I wake you?" McGarrett asked as his hand sought out Dan's shoulder again, his thumb tracing soothing circles onto the knotted tendon there.

"No," Danny admitted, before he took the chance to survey his surroundings. He was in a private room somewhere on the north side if the hibiscus peeking up in the window were anything to go by. Directing his gaze back to Steve, his curiosity got the better of him. "How long have I been under?"

"A week," the lead detective replied before his expression softened, giving way to a tender smile as his eyes shone with an emotion Danny couldn't identify. "You had us worried there for a while."

Flicking his clear blue gaze to the calendar on the wall, Dan was not amused to find that it was the 30th December. He had missed Christmas and was unprepared for today. It was Steve's birthday and he hadn't had a chance to arrange anything. This was terrible! He had all these plans and now he wouldn't be able to act on any of them. There was no way he would be able to now.

McGarrett noted the way Danny seemed to stiffen and his expression turned thunderous. Concerned, he broached the subject. "What's wrong? Are you in pain – do you need me to fetch Doc?"

Danny sullenly shook his head before he forced himself to look at Steve and be honest. "It's a nice way to spend your birthday, being cooped up in this place waiting for me to get around to pulling my own weight."

There were a few moments of silence before the pinned dropped. Shaking his head, McGarrett chuckled softly. The truth was, Danno being alive and kicking was the best birthday and Christmas present he could have asked for. He was thankful for the younger man's resilience and honestly couldn't ask for more. He didn't want much but he knew what he wanted, nonetheless. Still, he wasn't able to verbalize any of this but it must have shown because Danny was looking at him with a strange expression on his tired face. His Second-In-Command had an uncanny ability to detect subtle nuances in his mood. "Danno, the things you worry about! If it will make you feel better, you can buy me a saimin when you get back to the office."

Danny raised an eyebrow, "Is that an order or a wish?" he challenged softly as he grinned.

"Consider it both," McGarrett answered as the two men began to laugh. He was so glad that he had come through the longest night – more like week - in his life with Dan a little worn around the edges, but for the most part there. It might have started out a little horribly, but the ending to this festive season was better than he could have hoped for.

**PAU**


End file.
